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I visited Washington, D.C. for the first time with my family earlier this month. It was a very interesting and educational trip. See some of the sights we saw in our nation’s capitol below. You can click on images to view larger photos.

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Inside The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Does this remind anyone of geology class? That’s what I was thinking of when I saw this colorful display at the National Museum of Natural History.

Washington D.C.’s extensive subway system amazed me. Thousands of people travel through huge stations like this beneath the streets of D.C. every day. I had never seen such a busy system. Even with many cars, it was busy even late into the evening.

A space capsule at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Inside the space capsule at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. It amazed me how old the interior looked.

The Wright Brother’s plane. Planes have become so much more aerodynamic! I will say, it looked like it was in good shape, though.

This is the cockpit of a Northwest Airlines 747 that flew from the 1970s to 1999. I can’t imagine trying to keep track of all of the switches and dials while in-flight! It’s a good thing the cockpit was setup for two pilots and a navigator.

This has to be the smallest McDonald’s location I have ever seen. It was just outside the National Air and Space Museum.

The National Gallery’s architecture was beautiful. The museum featured original photos of presidents often found in high school textbooks, among other famous works.

The Newseum was one of my favorite attractions in D.C. Built in 2008, the six-story building shows pieces from recent news events and tells the story of journalists and their tools, who shape what we see online, in print and on TV.

Dozens of newspaper cover pages sit outside the museum. They are updated daily. While we were reading about the Twins home opener in the StarTribune, a couple walked by and said it looked like the people in the picture were at a football game. Perhaps they think a Minnesota spring is too cold for outdoor baseball?

Part of the Berlin Wall. While this side (West Germany side) was colored with graphiti, the other (East Germany side) was nearly unblemished. It was a stark contrast.

A section of the communication tower that stood on the north World Trade Center Tower before 9/11.

Newspapers the day after 9/11. It’s interesting how different publications represented the same event in different ways. Some publications used huge headers and graphics, while more traditional publications like The New York Times opted for smaller headers and more text.

Bill Gates used his company’s products — his Microsoft Natural Keyboard is found in the Newseum.

Rupert Murdoch’s old telephone.

A satellite communication device CNN used for field reporting in the late 1990s.

The Newseum has a Minnesota connection. An early Conus satellite truck is found in the museum’s basement. Conus was owned by Minnesota-based Hubbard Broadcasting (owner of KSTP-TV, KS95, 1500AM and more) and was a pioneer in the use of Ku band satellites in the 1980s. They hoped to start a successful national cable channel like CNN with their new tools. A KSTP-TV personnel directory is visible inside the door on the other side of the truck.

The Newsuem has two operational news studios used for real programming. I was able to go into this one, which features one of the best vistas of the capitol available for television programming. ABC News This Week is frequently filmed here, along with other notable national news programs. The windows are polarized. Without this special coating, the sun’s rays would make it impossible to film part of the day — especially in the morning when This Week airs. Update: My uncle says the windows also likely have 85B color correction gel on them, causing a yellow tint to appear under normal lighting. When they turn the studio lights on, camera lenses will see normal coloration.

The Newseum’s 6th floor provided a nice view of the capitol.

Tom at the Newseum.

Outside the capitol.

Inside the capitol visitor center. The visitor center was constructed just a few years ago underneath the capitol lawn to accommodate all of the capitol’s visitors and is bigger than the capitol itself.

Each state is able to send two statues of influential people to be included at the capitol. This is one of Minnesota’s two statutes. It is of Maria Sanford, who became one of the first women professors at the University of Minnesota. She was influential in women’s rights and the right for African Americans to receive education.

Old Supreme Court chamber inside the capitol.

Old House of Representatives chamber inside the capitol. We were able to see the current House chamber, but cameras were not allowed inside it.

Inside the old House of Representatives chamber.

The capitol was full of statutes, including one of Rosa parks, front center. This is one of the newest statutes in the capitol.

A painting inside the capitol.

The Library of Congress is housed in a beautiful building. They have some really cool exhibits, including some presidential items. I thought it was interesting that their in-person research traffic has slowed significantly in recent years as they have put more resources online. While anyone can conduct research there in person, most people doing so are writing a PhD thesis. There were still many visitors there to see the building and exhibits.

The Lincoln Memorial

The Washington Monument

The Jefferson Memorial

When I think of Washington D.C. outside of politics and museums, I often think of row houses. These are some row houses near our hotel. They were very close together — making me very thankful for the larger lots we have in Minnesota.

We saw the two pandas at the National Zoo.

While the cherry blossoms weren’t out quite yet (the weather was cool), these magnolia blossoms were very pretty.

This part of the national mall lawn was pristine condition. It surprised me to also see parts of the lawn very torn up. I guess this area gets a lot of traffic between political demonstrations, tourists, and games of Frisbee.

I just returned from a family vacation on the north shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. We relaxed outside, went hiking in area parks, attended church, visited shops, took a trip up The Gunflint Trail in search of the illusive moose and much more. The weather was a pleasant 70 degrees throughout our trip. We had a great time. Take a look at some of the pictures I took.

I graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College this Sunday, May 27 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies. I really enjoyed my time at Gustavus; and the ceremony was really nice, despite a high temperature in the upper 80s.

Take a look at some photos members of my family took during the celebration.

Summer is quickly coming to a close. I am ready for school to start up again (except for the whole packing thing), but the end of summer would not be the same without a trip to the Minnesota State Fair.

Second only in size to the Texas State Fair on a national level, the fair is well-run, has interesting attractions, and is well-supported by the community.

This year, I was able to make it to the fair twice, once on the first day (last Thursday), and then again this past Saturday. I spent the first day walking around, attending media broadcasts, checking out exhibits, viewing the animals, and taking in as much of the fair as I could. Nearly every radio/television outlet in the Twin Cities comes to the fair and broadcasts live, making a truly unique opportunity to see how the local media operates, all in one place.

On Saturday, my brother performed in a high school marching band. I attended the fair with my family and uncle to watch him, and see some of the agriculture/horticulture exhibits.

I brought a camera and snapped some pictures on the first day. See them below.

The fair is busy already.

The Sweet Martha’s Cookie tubs are a favoirte of many.

KSTP redid their building a couple of years back. It looks nice.

Inside the KSTP building, I love the “Television City” sign.

A KSTP newscast is now in session.

Out back, this microwave relay truck will send the broadcast back to the studio.

The StarTribune booth.

WCCO’s cameras are all ready for the next newscast.

WCCO always brings a number of trucks for production.

This satelite will be raised into the air for broadcast transmission.

I love the crane contraption that WCCO brings to the fair – it takes great crowd shots.

I like K102’s booth design. They may want to upgrade the CRT monitor inside, though.

The Giant Slide.

The KARE barn.

The free water inside the KARE barn is always popular.

This is KARE’s broadcast truck, sporting Minnesota “KARE 11” plates.

This would be a great way to cool off on a hot day!

This french fry booth has its own DJ.

Lucas from KDWB.

It’s Christmas in August! The trees are always so carefully trimmed.

In back of the food building there is a whole room for cups.

There are six dumpsters for greese and two for other things. Can anyone say “deep fried”?

The double decker Space Tower is being loaded.

The greenery at the fair is original and well-kept.

The tractors and trucks are so shiny before they hit the fields.

MyTalk 107.1’s DJs are living in that trailer together for the fair. Their show was quite popular.

I was sitting in my family’s backyard a few weeks ago when I noticed that one of the two elm trees was loosing leaves. We were a bit surprised, given that it was June. We contacted a tree company who came out and diagnosed this tree and the other elm in our backyard with dutch elm disease. Even though my parents had the trees injected regularly for nearly twenty years, there was little that could be done to save the (likely fifty year old) trees. We were told they would have to be removed. Standing taller than our house and stretching beyond the property limits, we knew that removing these trees would be no small feet.

The tree company that we contracted to remove the trees arrived yesterday to chop them down. The whole operation took two days. The first day they removed most branches from both trees. Their progress was impressive. Near the end of the day a branch landed on some power lines, knocking our neighbor out of service and removing our ground line. Fortunately the power company was able to come out quickly – our neighbor had their electricity back and we had a grounded line within a couple of hours.

On the second day, the tree company worked to finish cutting branches, to cut the tree trunks, and to remove the limbs. While they had initially planned to do this work with a small Bobcat that they brought, they decided to employ the assistance of a crane. The crane was fun to watch as it lifted huge branches over our house. The Bobcat was also quite interesting. It was smaller than a typical Bobcat (and it could fit through our gate), and was quite helpful when for guiding tree limbs down.

The trees are now down. Though we have a little bit of sod patching to do, our backyard looks nice and the inside of our house is much more sunny and lively. I am impressed by how quickly and efficiently the trimmers worked.

I took a number of pictures of the removal process and also a video showing how the crane worked. Follow our 48 hour backyard transformation below!

Despite being diseased, the trees were still quite leafy in many areas.

I just returned from a trip with my family to the north shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. The weather was pleasant – highs were in the mid 70s and raindrops were few and far between. It was a nice escape from the warm 90 degree weather we have had here in the Twin Cities.

We spent time in Duluth, Lutsen, Grand Marais, Thunder Bay, Canada, and at parks and scenic attractions in nearby areas. We enjoyed walking by Lake Superior, seeing the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth, checking out small town shops and a small town church, and much more. Take a look at the photos I took, which depict some of the interesting things we saw. Feel free to click on individual images for a larger view.

Bridgeman’s in Duluth – my family likes this resturant and frequents the Minneapolis location. Notice the walk-in refrigerator enterance from the outside. Pretty cool!

View of Lake Superior near Lutsen

View of Lake Superior near Lutsen

Lake Superior near Lutsen

CBC in Thunder Bay, Canada

Lake Superior Tourism Association – They were out for coffee when we visited

Closed business next to the Lake Superior Tourism Association in Thunder Bay, Canada

Lake Superior in Thunder Bay, Canada

Harbor on Lake Superior in Thunder Bay, Canada

Lake Superior in Grand Marais

Seagull in Grand Marais

Pier on Lake Superior in Grand Marais

Harbor on Lake Superior in Grand Marais

A plane taking off on Lake Superior in Grand Marais – see the video below

Woods near Lutsen

Northland News Center in Duluth

While we were in Grand Marais, we saw a prop plane (pictured above) take off and land several times. The pilot gives scenic tours in his 1960s four-seater plane (three passengers plus the pilot). He said that he charges $50 per passenger for fifteen minutes of flight, with discounts for additional passengers and amounts of time. It was fun to watch him use the harbor as his tarmac, and I thought web visitors might be interested in this sight. See video of a take-off below.